WALDENBURG — This is one of those crossroads communities you might pass through only on your way to get somewhere else. It’s at the intersection of U.S. Highway 49 and Arkansas 14 in Northeast Arkansas, and for many years travelers to and from Jonesboro drove through Waldenburg.

Not so much any more.

The snail’s pace 4-laning of U.S 67 finally pushed to within a few miles west of Cash a couple of years ago, and now most of the traffic uses the Arkansas 226 link to Jonesboro, which is being widened.

The signs on each side of Waldenburg say “Population 80,” but they are out of date. The 2010 Census counted 61 people living inside the city limits, a loss of nearly 50 percent since 1990. There are only eight smaller incorporated towns in Arkansas.

I passed through Waldenburg for the first time in 1963 en route to becoming a freshman at then-Arkansas State College, and I’ve been through there many times since then. I can tell you it hasn’t really changed much — not necessarily a bad thing.

On a clear night you can see the blinking red light at the main intersection from two or three miles away.

Waldenburg is also split by a railroad track, right by the intersection, and a steady stream of freight trains still pass through. So if you hit town just right, you’ll be there no more than an eye blink.

A few miles away are two more well-known communities — Weiner, a destination for duck hunters, and Amagon, now billed as the birthplace of Gov. Mike Beebe but in Beebe’s days as a college student it was better known as a speed trap.

There is still plenty of traffic through Waldenburg, though, and I’ve even gone there for a purpose a few times recently.

A few years ago Josie’s Steakhouse opened at Waldenburg and suddenly became a hot attraction for Jonesboro folks interested in fine food, adult beverages and, of all things, karaoke. Josie’s is still going strong, next to a dairy bar and one of two convenience stores in town. You can also get Woody’s Barbecue around the corner three days a week, but the Crossroads Cafe across the street didn’t make it.

Miss Bill’s Lunch Wagon is housed in a travel trailer a block away.

Other than that, the town has a few agriculture businesses catering to the surrounding farms, a Lutheran church, a liquor store, a city hall (open from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.) and a post office, ZIP code 72475.

In the near future the post office, which has served Waldenburg area residents for nearly 75 years, may be closed, a victim of the financial struggles of the U.S. Postal Service. A hearing will be held at City Hall at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 13 so townspeople can make their case for keeping the local post office open.

That will be one of nearly 200 such hearings the Postal Service is holding around the state as part of a nationwide plan to close some 3,700 post offices, most in rural communities like this one. Nearby Fisher and Amagon are also on the list.

In each case the Postal Service is issuing a press release saying much the same thing: “A review of business activities of the post office at these locations revealed that the office workload has declined. This reduced workload suggests the maintenance of an independent post office at these locations may no longer be warranted.”

All 61 Waldenburg residents would probably have to visit the office daily to justify its existence in the eyes of postal officials, who seem to think saving a few dollars in places like this can help turn around an $8.3 billion deficit.

Last week a bipartisan group of U.S. senators announced a plan to keep the Postal Service solvent, as well as to continue 6-day-a-week mail delivery for at least two more years. But news reports don’t indicate any provision to keep the rural post offices open. In fact, continuation of 6-day delivery would depend on making cuts elsewhere.

“They are trying to take our post office away,” Waldenburg Mayor William Wood recently told a Jonesboro Sun reporter. “It seems like the government is trying to do away with rural America. They’ve already taken away our school.”

Actually, Waldenburg hasn’t had a school in many years. The mayor was probably referring to the Weiner School District, which included Waldenburg until 2010 when it was merged into the Harrisburg district.

Many of the 188 Arkansas communities on the list of endangered post offices are offering that complaint at the public hearings. It probably won’t help, but one of these days we’ll realize, perhaps too late, what we’ve lost in rural America.

Roy Ockert Jr. is editor of The Jonesboro Sun and can be reached by e-mail at royo@jonesborosun.com.